2022-09-04 How to Love What You

The question “do you love what you do” is very difficult to answer. Saying ‘no’ would be too harsh, but saying ‘yes’ might not feel right either.

I found the reason to be that there is a “macro” and “micro” side to what you are doing.

You can love the macro picture of what you are doing, even though the micro can be tedious and annoying sometimes.

The macro could be building a business you are passionate about, while the micro is stuff like sending cold emails, split testing ads, writing copy, or dealing with tiny problems that have to get solved.

Most of the time if you have a meaningful and worthwhile macro, the micro will be tedious. And for things where the micro is pure fun and pleasure, the macro might not be great.

Learning a new skill is great macro with some annoying micro.

Watching Youtube and Netflix is fun micro with bad macro.

Even though there are exceptions, this is a good rule of thumb: the more you have to sacrifice in the short term (micro), the more you’ll gain in the long term (macro). The same goes for the inverse.

Now, when you face the question of “do you love what you do”, what do you answer? And more importantly, what’s the “best” answer?

How about this:

“Aim at the best possible macro that still allows you to tolerate the micro.”

There is no point in trying to do something that requires so much effort and sacrifice that you end up quitting. And if the thing you know you should do is too difficult, start with something you can and would do.

This will build up your competence and allow you to eventually tackle bigger things.

So… do you love what you do?